Edge of the Earth
by wyndnfyr
Summary: Set directly after Voldemort dies. Snape is whisked off to a far away place and Hermione is all but shoved into following him. SS/HG rated M for future chapters


**I do not own anything in the Harry Potter universe. That right belongs specifically to J.K. Rowling. I make no money off this - which is too bad. I am merely playing with her toys for the time being. ^_^**

**On another note, whereas this is not my first story, it is currently my only story uploaded and is my very first attempt at an SS/HG. It begins directly after Voldemort dies, but I have taken liberties as to who I think _should_ have died and who should _not_ have died. This is going to be a completely AU fic as well. I'll try to update again in the coming days. Hopefully this will go better than the other stories that I've deleted off of here. Wish me luck!!**

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Hermione ran to the shrieking shack where she knew Snape to be. Voldemort had fallen and everyone who was left alive were left to pick up their dead and wounded. The majority of the Death Eaters had died in trying to protect their cause, but after the death of their fearless leader, they fled.

Hermione was not concerned with them. No, she was after Snape. Gray light began to filter through the sky as she ran toward the shack and birds began to chirp. It was an eerily happy sound after the ruckus of the final battle. She could still smell the blood, the burnt flesh; could still hear the screams and moans of the dying and wounded. Hermione ran faster.

She finally reached her destination and threw a wordless reducto that blasted the already disintegrating door to shreds. There was no time to waste. Having no idea what room he was in, she began to check every corner as she made her way to the cellar. It took her all of five minutes, but to Hermione, it felt like five hours. Snape was nowhere to be found. She realized with a start that she hadn't checked any of the upper floors and began to make her way up the rickety stairs. He was not there either. At a complete loss, Hermione went back down to the cellar to double check it as she made her way to the passage that led under the whomping willow. It was then she realized that off in a far corner there was what appeared to be a body.

Hermione lifted her want and whispered a lumos. "Professor Snape?" she called. There was no movement. Getting closer, she realized that it was not a body at all, but it was indeed his robes. They were covered in blood. There were no footprints leading to his robes, nor were there any leading away.

"Where could he have gone?" she wondered aloud.

"I have sent him away."

Hermione shrieked and spun around only to reveal a silvery shimmer off in the shadows where her lumos could not reach.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" she barely managed to ask.

The silvery shimmer moved closer to Hermione's wandlight and revealed itself to be a female ghost that she did not immediately recognize. The ghost had very long hair, bright eyes, and wore a sad smile. She could not have been a very old ghost by Hermione's standards. Whereas all the ghosts of Hogwarts have died five hundred years ago at the earliest, this ghost was wearing what looked to be a simple long sleeved t-shirt, a pair of old jeans and worn trainers.

"Who I am is not important. What I'm doing here however, is." The ghost turned slightly away from Hermione to face the pile of robes on the floor. She spoke again. "Do you know what happened here in this shack tonight, Hermione?"

Hermione looked incredulous. "How do you know my name?"

"I know the names of all the children of Hogwarts," she said smiling slightly. "You see, I've haunted the castle even though none of you have been able to see me. Aside from all the other ghosts, only one was aware of my presence." She gestured to Severus' robes. "I'll ask you again child. Do you know what happened here tonight?"

Hermione could only mutely shake her head.

"The great evil that was once the Dark Lord called Severus to him. I followed him here because he asked me to. He said he needed me to alert someone else where he was in case he lived. He always was the paranoid sort," the ghost said softly. She began to pace lightly, but Hermione noted that she left no footprints in the dust. The ghost continued, "As I said, the Dark Lord called him here tonight, and it was as Severus feared. He tried to plead with his Master to let him bring Harry Potter to him, but to no avail. The Dark Lord finally called on Nagini to kill Severus with what was supposed to be a fatal bite. Afterwards, the Dark Lord left, and went in search of Harry Potter himself. It was at this point that Severus, now very weakened and bleeding profusely, fumbled a vial of the strongest anti-venom potion he had ever made out of his pocket. He barely managed to get the stopper out of it before he swallowed it. He then fished around another pocket and pulled out a bezoar, and just barely got it in his mouth before he passed out." She looked at Hermione pointedly. "It was at this time that I took him out of his clothes and sent him away. Where he is going, these blooded robes will do him no good."

Hermione gave her a funny look after that. "It has been my understanding that ghosts can't touch humans. Only Peeves has really ever been able to do that."

"And you would be correct. I am a ghost, but I am not your normal ghost. I can touch humans, but only a few. Severus is one of them."

At this Hermione looked surprised. She had never heard of a ghost that could actively touch people, much less a ghost that could only touch a select few. "Who else?"

The ghost shook her head sadly and did not answer. "I won't answer that for you; in time you will figure it out for yourself. In the meantime let me say this. Where I have sent him, they have no knowledge of who he is, who Voldemort is, or what Hogwarts is."

Hermione gasped. "Did you send him to another world? Another dimension? Where has he gone?" She was breathless with all the questions that were flitting about her head.

"That, you will also learn in time." The ghost moved closer to Hermione and gave her an apologetic smile. She reached out her hand and placed it upon the girls arm. Hermione's first reaction was that it was not the cold feeling that a ghost normally had when they 'touched' a person. No, in fact, it was rather warm - and it was getting warmer. Hermione looked up from the contact on her arm into the face of the ghost only now she wasn't silvery anymore. She had some color to her now. Hermione might have noticed that the room was growing fainter and fainter despite her wandlight but she couldn't tear her gaze from the ghost's eyes. Bright eyes. Bright _green_ eyes.

Her last waking thought was that there was no possible way that this ghost was Lily Potter.

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**I know it's short, but it's the prologue. All coming chapters will definitely be longer than this. :)**


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